Where on earth are y’all finding barrels so cheap?
Trade gun photos please....
- Thread starter Skychief
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short barrels are easy ... 24 ga, ....also 16 and 12 ga. I think !! PM me if you want to know .... Long ones , eh ?! Bit difficult ...but if you have a friend or acquaintance that is a machinist , ive had some made from DOM steel for darn cheap too !
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N.W. gun I made with an L&R Queen Anne lock . They are good locks and round face but JUST a hair small for a N.W. trade gun . In this pic it doesnt look bad though ... They will work though ...
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I are a machiner. Definitely am not gonna try boring a long tube though.
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LOL !! I dont blame you , I wouldnt either ... Best of luck machiner
Mzzlldrinpa
32 Cal.
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After a few hours of rabbit hunting.
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hears my 28 gauge by Jacky Brown .
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Charley Hanson was a personal friend as was Curly G. - they both had copies of this statement by several different sources saying "The Indians refused to buy cheap, poorly made guns..." Good post Zonie.
I may have posted this a while back, if I did sorry ~ old age sucks ...
GRRW Collectors Association
NW TRADE GUN EXAMPLE
This is a copy of an original 1850's NW trade gun right down to the size of the original's bore - a .50 caliber smoothbore. Hanson thought it was built to reach out (longer range) with the buffalo becoming wary of humans.
Mr. Koziol has done similar testing if you remember on another GRRW Collectors Association gun - a J&S Hawken full stock flinter built by Carl Walker last year. Jonathan was amazed how nice that rifle turned out.
Jonathan loves to shoot and improve on the guns he has tested, that's the reason I sent this gun to him. Plus, he'll use his different great products and services to improve on what the original copy started out as.
This was a surprise to have Doc comment on someone's work like he has with Jonathan. What Doc White and myself like is how he is making this information available to you guys, should be an interesting review with the addition of his videos ...
Green River Rifle Works Collectors Association North West Trade Gun ~ Doc. White builder of this gun. .50 caliber smoothbore, flint lock ignition, ser. no. [DGW NW#01].
1st Shot
Fine Tuning
Making Adjustments
Testing GRRW No.1 H.E. Leman North West Trade Gun GRRW.CA DGW - @NW01 .50cal. Did a little shooting today and had a blast! Tomorrow, I will be setting up my shooting bags and try it off something stable. Ignition was fast, trigger pull was maybe in the 3 to 4lb range. A very comfortable gun. It was weird getting used to that flat butt plate as I shoot a Hawken, but it was a nice feeling on the shoulder. I am hoping to find an accurate load out to at least 75 yards with this smoothbore and use it for a mule deer hunt in September. An extremely well put together NW gun! Doc did one heck of a job one this one!
That wouldn't work very well when hunting or just carrying the gun in the woods. Your better off figuring out where to aim using the tang screw screwdriver slot for reference.
This slot can be tightened or loosened a touch to move your point of aim, takes a little practice.
Jonathan wrote: That's exactly what I've been doing! That screw helps keep things center and then i go with the blurry line that shows up when I look down the barrel. Just like a shotgun pretty much. So far it’s been working,, but longer ranges is where consistency will show up.
We know now how this smoothbore will shoot ... Jonathan shot several targets with enlarged three shot groups at 25 yards and 50 yards.
target
Target - One ragged hole - three shot groups, got the same results every time, 25 yards and at 50 yards. New owner is experiencing the same results.
The new owner wrote me that this was the best shooting smoothbore he has ever shot (has lots of experience shooting these guns).
The new owner Kevin M... experienced the same results as Jonathan with three shots in one ragged hole. This smoothbore will be making the trip to the Nationals for setting a few of the old records with new scores.
What's next - this is how we will approach this gun:
1.) see if a steel ramrod is in order.
2.) Birchwood Casey finish.
The video's really looks good Jonathan.
Buck
GRRW Collectors Association
NW TRADE GUN EXAMPLE
This is a copy of an original 1850's NW trade gun right down to the size of the original's bore - a .50 caliber smoothbore. Hanson thought it was built to reach out (longer range) with the buffalo becoming wary of humans.
Mr. Koziol has done similar testing if you remember on another GRRW Collectors Association gun - a J&S Hawken full stock flinter built by Carl Walker last year. Jonathan was amazed how nice that rifle turned out.
Jonathan loves to shoot and improve on the guns he has tested, that's the reason I sent this gun to him. Plus, he'll use his different great products and services to improve on what the original copy started out as.
This was a surprise to have Doc comment on someone's work like he has with Jonathan. What Doc White and myself like is how he is making this information available to you guys, should be an interesting review with the addition of his videos ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Green River Rifle Works Collectors Association North West Trade Gun ~ Doc. White builder of this gun. .50 caliber smoothbore, flint lock ignition, ser. no. [DGW NW#01].
This is the first NW Gun built by either firm - GRRW or GRRW.CA.
trade gun picture1st Shot
Fine Tuning
Making Adjustments
Testing GRRW No.1 H.E. Leman North West Trade Gun GRRW.CA DGW - @NW01 .50cal. Did a little shooting today and had a blast! Tomorrow, I will be setting up my shooting bags and try it off something stable. Ignition was fast, trigger pull was maybe in the 3 to 4lb range. A very comfortable gun. It was weird getting used to that flat butt plate as I shoot a Hawken, but it was a nice feeling on the shoulder. I am hoping to find an accurate load out to at least 75 yards with this smoothbore and use it for a mule deer hunt in September. An extremely well put together NW gun! Doc did one heck of a job one this one!
That wouldn't work very well when hunting or just carrying the gun in the woods. Your better off figuring out where to aim using the tang screw screwdriver slot for reference.
screw picture
This slot can be tightened or loosened a touch to move your point of aim, takes a little practice.
Jonathan wrote: That's exactly what I've been doing! That screw helps keep things center and then i go with the blurry line that shows up when I look down the barrel. Just like a shotgun pretty much. So far it’s been working,, but longer ranges is where consistency will show up.
We know now how this smoothbore will shoot ... Jonathan shot several targets with enlarged three shot groups at 25 yards and 50 yards.
target
Target - One ragged hole - three shot groups, got the same results every time, 25 yards and at 50 yards. New owner is experiencing the same results.
The new owner wrote me that this was the best shooting smoothbore he has ever shot (has lots of experience shooting these guns).
The new owner Kevin M... experienced the same results as Jonathan with three shots in one ragged hole. This smoothbore will be making the trip to the Nationals for setting a few of the old records with new scores.
What's next - this is how we will approach this gun:
1.) see if a steel ramrod is in order.
2.) Birchwood Casey finish.
The video's really looks good Jonathan.
Buck
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My family has owned two antique stores in Pennsylvania and has dealt in firearms for over 100 years. NW Trade Guns were the cheapest arms to buy in the 1930 through the 1950's.Hello all. Since the originator of this Thread was looking for pics of Trade guns, I thought I would re-post a couple photos here. I posted this gun here on the Forum about 5-6 years ago. I bought this from a co-worker who had no idea what it was. While not in my area of collecting, I knew enough of what I was looking at to know I had to have it. LOL With the gracious help of others much more knowledgeable on this Forum, we were able to determine this gun is actually a Belgium copy of an English NWT fusil.
The barrel is 36" long and about 20 guage. The lock was converted to percussion (darn) and is marked Barnett 1836. It's in rough shape and was probably used all the way up till the tumbler broke. Hard to believe the only thing missing is the ramrod.
Anyway, just thought some of you who had not seen my original post from years ago might like to view it. I'm still the proud owner and it has a special place in my collection.
Rick
My father had purchased many of these NW guns, back East they were referred to as "Squirrel" guns in the early years later on called "Barn" guns in the various time periods.
In the early 2010 - I sold a Sharpe NW Gun to Ryan Gale author of For Trade and Treaty: Firearms of the American Indians, 1600-1920. This NW gun was sold for $3,500 or $3,600 at that time (have sold to many to remember the selling price now), my father paid $1.25 and had to make payments on the purchase during the early 1930's. He would find them in hardware stores (traded in for cartridge weapons). At times he would have as high as a half dozen weapons on lay away making a nickle payment on each item. Fun stuff ...
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It's as refined as it needs to be. In my view a beauty. I would be proud to own it, as I think less is better than over done.
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Brokennock
Cannon
Wow! Another double resurection!
And here it is, the GRRW CA trade gun
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Wish I had that kind of talent..
Have you had a chance to do some more shooting with this beauty. If I was in better health I wouldn't have sold this one, heavy gun for an old man anymore. Jonathan said he should have bought it from me when he was test shooting and making his videos of the gun.
Thanks for the reply "yotyfor" ...
I have been shooting it quite a bit, more so with shot, as I have been trying to work up a load for grouse hunting. I made a post a while ago regarding shot pattern. It sure is a beauty and a shooter.
Might honestly be under refined. Those lock panels could use a diet.
Here's a few pictures I have on hand, sorry for the more quality, taken 30-40 years ago. Cheap camera's were poor quality and old pictures add to the issue too. Several of these old guns my father collected back in the 1930's and 40's, history now ...Let's see some trade guns, please.
I always liked the picture of the comparison of our pre-1816 Sharpe to the late HBC Company (1950's gun). Their trade gun is just like an H&R single shot shotgun, but has the HBC stamps of a Barnett NW trade gun (top left hand picture).
Buck
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